Making waves

I'm probably not the first person you'd think would be putting the word out about World Water Day (today), but the founders of 3 for 5 go to our church and gave out information yesterday about their organization.  Regardless of whom you would like to point a finger at, hearing that over 1.5 million children under the age of 5 die every year from preventable illnesses linked to dirty water and poor sanitation is a sad story indeed. 
 
I really admire people who put their ideas into action, instead of just talking about them.  Please take a moment to visit their website www.3for5.org, donate your 5 bucks, and pass it along!  Thank you.

When grace is enough

I can't even remember now what the topic of discussion was on the radio show that I was listening to a couple weeks ago, but one of the sentiments just stuck with me.  The person was saying that there will be times in your life when you're feeling really low, and it can be hard to even believe in God, but don't worry, even in these moments, God still believes in YOU.  Now, you might write this off as one of those sappy things Christians say, but I couldn't get it out of my head.  The idea that God actually believes in little ole' me is just mind-boggling!  I've also been hitting repeat on track #13 of a CD compilation that a friend recently gave to me (thanks Robin! :), and I'm reminded that I need God's grace - every day. 

"Your Grace is Enough" by Chris Tomlin
 
Great is Your faithfulness oh God
You wrestle with the sinner's heart
You lead us by still waters and to mercy
And nothing can keep us apart

So remember Your people
Remember Your children
Remember Your promise, oh God

Your grace is enough
Your grace is enough
Your grace is enough for me

Great is Your love and justice God
You use the weak to lead the strong
You lead us in the song of Your salvation
And all Your people sing along

So remember Your people
Remember Your children
Remember Your promise, oh God 

Your grace is enough
Your grace is enough
Your grace is enough for me

So remember Your people
Remember Your children
Remember Your promise, oh God

Your grace is enough
Your grace is enough
Your grace is enough for me

Your grace is enough
Heaven reaching down to us
Your grace is enough for me
God I see your grace is enough
I'm covered in your love
Your grace is enough for me
For me

Wide open spaces

Someone who just moved back to Michigan not too long ago commented to me this morning that their family has been so busy these past couple of years that they still haven't navigated too much past their home radius, and here I was just yesterday thinking how I started my work day in Ray Twp (think miles of sod farms) and ended it in Grosse Pointe (waterfront dotted with yachts and multi-million dollar homes) - both places are only about 30 min away from where we live.  I guess these places are a bit like us, in that they are so unlike and yet beautiful in different ways, and are not as far apart as we sometimes think...

Being right

Out of curiousity (okay, maybe it was more like listless conference call syndrome) I Googled this phrase today and it came back with all kinds of random results, ranging from self-help advice, politics and some dude's disturbing Flickr account of the same name.  I was thinking about how the hubby and I had a short exchange about this concept last night (don't worry, it really was brief as it was after 10:00pm and it was very important to me to be able watch The Office episode about Jim & Pam having a baby!), and one of the questions he asked me was "why is it so important for you to always prove your point?".  Well, now, I felt that was a bit like asking a songbird why they always felt the need to sing! :). 
 
But seriously, I've always found it interesting to reflect on different personalities and how they often seem to lead us down the road of familiar tendencies and repeated actions.  While I don't necessarily subscribe to the idea that we are somehow concretely set in our ways due to predetermined personality types, it can certainly be an insightful exercise to figure out our makeup.  Don't you sometimes find yourself thinking that the way you acted or spoke was so unlike your normal ways or that you just can't figure out where it came from?  Interesting indeed. 
 
P.S.  Yes, honey, it was in an email, but maybe you did also tell me and I just don't remember.  Maybe... :) xoxo

Cleaning checklist

Our friend Jodi recently posted on her blog about her work space being a mess, and it made me look around my own office - and wince.  These are the only parts I felt okay about showing you, and even then you can see there are piles in one of my "in" boxes and a couple other boxes sitting on the floor of older files that my co-worker handed off to me.  Yikes.  You can't even see the other piles to the left and behind, and my other plant has not revived to its former self since the beginning of the year!  But I have kept it alive for the last 8 years, thank you very much.   
 
I can admit that I'm in need of a good cleanse in practically every area of my life, so I hope spring comes soon so that my motivation kicks in!

Home is..where?

I've been thinking about this concept a lot in recent months as we've been making plans to move our house location (locally) and dealing with several changes in our work lives.  For me, I know my attitude and perspective can change so much when my environment changes, for better or for worse.  When its the latter, I try to center myself and think happier thoughts.  I can also think about when I feel most at "home": when I'm with the hubby, when we're hanging out with friends, when we're spending time with family, when we're enjoying the community of our church, when we welcome people into our home, when we choose to serve others, when we develop quality relationships at work etc. I hope you also have a good list of places you call home - and thanks for being a part of my home circle, we should have you over sometime soon! ;)

 

A Valentine's to remember

With our newly merged congregation, we now have (and love!) a number of older attendees who have continued to faithfully attend and serve the church.  Yesterday our pastor said that he and his wife would be treating the church's widows to lunch, unless others wanted to invite them, and that's how our little group ended up sharing a meal with two lovely ladies Wanda and Mary Lee.  Now we always manage to have good conversation and laughs over lunch, and this was no exception!  In fact, I might have had some extra laughs listening to Wanda lecture our friend Dave in a loving way (if he blames me I can accept that, but he still deserved it :).  But the opportunity to get to know some new faces, share our stories and ask questions of these longtime members of the former First Baptist of Royal Oak was simply priceless.  What a sweet gift!